Elevator lock



Feb. 24, 1925. y 1,527,452..

C. A. TRAHN ELEVATORLOCK Filed Marh A5, 1923 l/VVENT'OE:

CHARLES A. TRAHN,

Patented F eb. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES CHARLES A. TRAHN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

ELEVATOR LOCK.

Application led March 5, 1923.

To all whom it may conce/rn.'

Be it known that I, CHAnLEs A. TRAHN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Elevator Lock, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for preventing the `operation of an elevator unless all `doors are securely closed.

One of the objects of this invention'is to i provide a device that is so designed that it `.willisecurely lock `before the operating cir- "cuitcan be closed.

Another object is to provide a device that will mechanically close the operating circuit and make Contact by the lockingrmovement of the device.

will mechanically open the operating circuit and break contact by the unlocking `movement of the device.

Another object is to provide a device that `will Vnot unlock before "the operating circuit `is, opened. l

Another object is to provide a device in which the locking mechanism is so arranged that the contacts are moved in a. shiftingfdirection as well as for `the making and breaks ing of the contacts so as to promote a cleaning of the contact surfaces through the openfing `and closing of the contacts.

l DI

Other objects will appear from the foli lowing description and appended claims as well as from the accompanying drawing, in which Fie'. 1 is a fraomentar rear-side elevationV Fig. 3, as seen in the direction of the arrow' fl, 'a -cover-plate being illustrated in this view in proper relation to the lock.

` Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the lock-casing, taken on approximately the line -5 of Fig. t, though slightly modified,

Another object is to provide a device that Serial No. 622,921.

having no lugs on the top, and having only a slot in the end for the locking latch to pass into the casing.

Fig 6 is a top plan view of the contact plate. 4

Relying on springs and other automatically operating mechanism for opening or closing the operating circuit of elevators, cannot be said to assure safety in the oper ation of elevators. 1

A spring is liable to become weaker or even break, thereby making a safe operation of a contact-switch very questionable.

Even certain counter-weights, .retaining the original, certain and positive operating capacity, may fail to Workfor operate a sticky switch.

f A contact-switch may easily become sticky or hard to be operated through many and different causes. Dust, badly applied lu-V brication, or burned contact-surfaces may be the cause of making a contact switch inoperative.

It is therefore one of the objectsrof this invention to make and break contacts in conjunction with the operation of the .locking part of such devices. i

Especially in so-called biparting doors, it is very important that the several members of such doors are securely interlocked before the operating circuit ofthe elevator is closed; and that the several members of such doors cannot be unlocked before the operating circuit is opened or broken.

InFig. 1, the interlocking mechanism of such bi-parting doors is illustrated in con nection with a lock-switch, or contact-lock, roughly outlined. The upward and downward shifting door section 7 is connected at 8 to the liexible members 9. The other door section 10 is connected to the other ends of the iexible members 9, as indicated at 11.

In this manner, the two door sections are suspended so as to balance one another. Latch members 12 and 13 are pivotally mounted on one of the sect-ions, as indicated at 14C, and interconnected by the connecting rod 15. The latch-ends 16.01 the latch members 12 and 13 are disposed so as to en gage a latch-plate 17 of the other door-section. The latch-member 12 is provided with an extension-end 18 to project and eX- tend into the lock 19,` in order to keep the latch-members 12 and 13 in interlocking position in relation to the door-sections 7 and 8, by the lock-switch control, as will be described hereafter.

l/Vhile Fig. 1 illustrates so-called bi-parting up and down moving doors or door sections, the device may just as well be used in` conjunction with doors operated in sidewise directions. A fragmentary elevation of a sidewise moving door is indicated at 2O in Fig. 2. A latch-pawl 21 is pivotally mounted at 22 on the door 20, operative by the handle-bar 23. A slightly modified form of lock is indicated at 24, to co-operate with the other mechanism. rlhis loch 24 as well as the lock 19, of course, is necessarily mounted on a stationary part, as, for instance, the shaft-walls, the door-frames, and any other stationary member near the doors of elevators. r)The pawl 21 of the slightly modified form in Fig. 2, is lifted out of engagement from the lock 24 by the handlebar 28. rl`he door 20 is moved baclr and forth by the handle-bar 28, when the pawl 21 is removed from the loclr 24.

The inside contact and locking parts of the lock are illustrated in Fig. 3. A tilting member 25 is pivotally mounted at 2G within the housing or casing 2.7 of the lock. The tilting member 25 is provided with a bifurcated end 28, the two prongs or branches 29 and 30 of the bifurcated end 28 serving` to assure a forced or positive movement of the tilting member in either direction, locning and unlocking, aswell as making and breaking of contacts. On the opposite end 31 of the tilting member 25, a contact-plate is provided, preferably insulated from the tilting member. A spring 33 serves to form a yielding support for the contact-plate 82, but is otherwise not responsible for the actions of the tilting member and thereby of the contacts. The contact-plate 82 is preferably provided with an elongated perforation 34, as illustrated in Fig. 6, in order to avoid or prevent a misplacing of the contactplate in relation to the contact-blocks 35 and 3G. The contact-plate 32 is shiftably mounted on the fiat pin 37 of the tilting member 25. During the tilting movements of the member 25, the contact-plate 52 is shifted or moved in a sliding manner ove-r the surfaces of the contact-blocks 35 and 86, thereby tending to clean the contacting-V surfaces.

In the position, indicated in dotted lines at 88, the contact-plate 82 is entirely removed from the contact-blocks 85 and 36; while in t-he position indicated in dash and dotted lines at 39, the contact-plate is just shifted sidewise, the pin 87 being then in the position indicated at 40, the netter-pin 41 in the pin 37 then just hittingl the contact-plate, ready to lift the contact-plate from the. contact-blocks.

The end-elevation of Fig. 4 illustrates that the extension-end 18 of the latch-inembers 12 and 18 of the device in Fig. 1 may enter the lock-casing through the space between the lugs 42, to come into engagement with theA bifurcated end 28 of the tilting member 25.

Sufch an engagement with the tilting-member is more clearly illustrated in Fig. 5. The latching end 43 of the latch-pawl 21 has been used in this illustration, but it will easily be understood that the latching end of the l extension-end 18 is operated with the same or similar results. The only difference is in fact that the latching pawl 21 is mainly moved in a sidewise direction with the door 20, while the extension-end 18 is mainly moved in up and down direct-ions, aside from the short tilting movement while within the lock.

Vallien no latch is within the lock, the tiltindicated in dotted lines at 44, with the branches of the bifurcated end in the positions indicated at 45 and 46. On entering the lock, before actuating the tilting-member, the latching-end of, either, the latchpawl 21 or the extension-end 18, takes the position indicated in dotted lines at 47. Moving the latching end of the latch-pawl 21 or of the extension-end 18 downwardly, to bring the shouldered hook 48 into engagement within the lock, as illustrated at 48, causes a tilting of the tilting-member 25 into contacting position, the hook-portion 48 pressing on the lower branch 29 of the tilting-member, thereby mechanically forcing the tilting-member to co-act with the latening mechanism.

lin movingthe latching-end upwardly, the latching-end is forced against the upper branch 30 of the bifurcated end of the tilting-member 25, thereby mechanically compelling a tilting of the tilting-member in the opposite direction so as to open or break the contacts. The latching-end of, either, the latch-pawl or of the extension-end 18 of the latch-members 12- and 13 cannot be removed from the lock until the contacts are broken or opened.

Having thus described my invention, l; claim: "1 l 1. In an elevator-locl-switch, a housing, contacts disposed in the housing, an operating member pivotally mounted in the housing carrying a contact plate insulated from the operating member at one end and havin` a bifuncated termination at the opposite end of its pivot and adapted to engage the said contacts, the operating member being balanced so that the contact supporting end is in its inoperative position tilted downwardly within the housingA and the bifurcated end is maintained in a tilted position with the upper member of the bifurcated end tilted backwardly spaced from the front of the housing, the housing being slotted through ing-member 25 is normally in the position a portion of the top and through a portion of the front so that a co-acting latching member may pass into the housing, the bifurcated end of the operating mem er being in its inoperative position disposed so that such co-acting latching member can pass the saidbackvvardly tilted upper member of the bifurcated end While the lower member of this bifurcated end will be hit by the said latching member in passing into latching position Within said housing, the said Lipper memberl of the bifurcated end being adapted to engage over such latching member When the lower member of the bifurcated end is hit by the latehing member.

2. In an elevator-lock-switch, in combination with bi-parting doors Within a door frame, a latch member on said .bi-parting doors, a lock-housing on said frame havinO a slot thro-ugh a portion of its top side and through a portion of its front side so that the said latch member may pass into the housing when the said doors are so moved, a tiltably disposed operating member Within the said housing having bifurcated terminations projecting in the direction of the slot in the housing so that the said latch member can pass one member of the said bifurcated terminations and adapted to hit the other end of the bifuroated terminations for tilting the operating member to operative position so as to bring the first said member of the bifurcation to a position extending over the said latch member in locked position. i

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES A. TRAHN. Witnesses:

E. HATTENBACH, O. H. KRUEGER. 

